(Washington Insider Magazine)- In a case concerning the company’s commercial operations, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, entered a guilty plea on Thursday to many tax fraud counts.
The judge said that Weisselberg, 75, had agreed to pay close to $2 million in taxes, interest, and penalties as well as to serve 5 months on Rikers Island before beginning a 5-year probationary period.
Weisselberg as well as the Trump Organization were accused in June 2021 of partaking in a 15-year “off the books” plan to assist top Trump Organization personnel in evading taxes. According to NBC NEWS, Weisselberg was charged with evading taxes on $1.7 million of his income.
Weisselberg confessed in court on Thursday that he is aware that failure to pay back taxes or provide credible testimony at the Trump Organization trial this autumn may result in a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty, according to a statement from his lawyer Nicholas Gravante Jr., to terminate the lawsuit and the years-long judicial and emotional trauma it has inflicted on him and his family.
Weisselberg exploited his position at the company, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, “to bilk taxpayers and enrich himself.”
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, weighed in on the issue on Wednesday, declaring that there is “zero tolerance for those who swindle our neighborhoods and our state out of money.”
Charges against the Trump Organization are separate. Trump himself is not accused of any criminal activity, but he is the subject of many, long-running criminal investigations that have gained national prominence ever since the FBI investigated his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, last week. Furthermore, Weisselberg has made no indication that he will assist any inquiry against Trump personally.
The inquiry against Trump and the business is still ongoing, according to Bragg in his statement.
